Overview
This unit will enable students to develop their knowledge and understanding of biomolecules and cell function, including the structure and biological role of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids. They will develop a basic understanding of how these biomolecules are synthesised, catabolised and interconverted through key biochemical pathways to meet the needs of the cell and organism, and will provide the necessary knowledge to begin to study disease and drug treatment at the cellular level. Students will also develop a theoretical understanding of methods used in biochemical analysis and develop literature searching skills in the recognition and use of primary sources of scientific information.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisites: CHEM11007 Introductory Concepts of Chemical Sciences and CHEM11008 Essential Principals of Chemical Sciences; or CHEM11041 Chemistry for the Life Sciences or CHEM11042 Fundamentals of Chemistry
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2017
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student evaluation and feedback
Like the smaller lecture videos focusing on one topic, rather than a larger video focusing on multiple topics.
Maintain the use of multiple shorter lectures focusing on a single topic.
Feedback from Student evaluation and feedback. Course review.
Feedback from forum posts and assessment submissions took longer than outlined in the course profile.
Ways of improving feedback times will be considered.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure, function and biological roles of the major types of macromolecules and their building blocks.
- Explain the various methods used to separate and characterise macromolecules.
- Describe the relationship between structure and function of the components of biological membranes, especially in terms of selective permeability.
- Outline the basic processes involved in metabolism of carbohydares, fats and proteins and their catabolism to synthesise ATP through cellular respiration.
- Utilise common search engines and scientific databases to find and recognise primary scientific information.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 40% | |||||
| 3 - Examination - 40% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Examination - 40% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry
Edition: 2nd or 3rd edn revised (2012)
Authors: Smith, JG
McGraw Hill
New York New York , NY , USA
ISBN: 9780073402789
Binding: Hardcover
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
p.neilsen@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Cell structure and pH regulation
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Amino acids and proteins
Chapter
Chapter 21
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Enzymes and enzyme kinetics
Chapter
Chapter 21
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Nucleic acids and protein synthesis
Chapter
Chapter 22
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Carbohydrates
Chapter
Chapter 20
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Lipids
Chapter
Chapter 19
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Online Quiz 1 opens at 5:00pm (AEST) Friday 25th August 2017. This will assess topics covered during Weeks 1 to 6
Protein Poster Due: Week 6 Friday (25 Aug 2017) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Metabolism pt I
Chapter
Chapter 23
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Metabolism pt II
Chapter
Chapter 24
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Transport across the cell membrane
Chapter
Chapter 19
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chemical messengers - amines and neurotransmitters
Chapter
Chapter 18
General, Organic and Biological Chemistry (J.G. Smith, 3rd Edition)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Online Quiz 2 opens at 5:00pm (AEST) Friday 22nd September 2017. This will assess topics covered during Weeks 7 to 10
Module/Topic
Unit content revision lectures
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Exam revision
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
This assignment is designed to strengthen your understanding of amino acids, protein structure and function (Learning Outcome 1) through engagement with relevant literature on the topic (Learning Outcome 5). The assessment requires you to produce a poster that provides information on the structure, function and biological role(s) of a particular protein. You will be provided with a list of potential proteins to select from on the unit's Moodle site. Alternatively, you may select a different protein related to your interest. This assessment requires you to undertake a literature search on your chosen protein, and it is expected that you reference at least 5 primary scientific journal articles.
In order to achieve this you will need to:
- Identify a suitable protein that is of interest to you (either from the list provided on the Moodle site, or based on your interest and review of the literature)
- Research the literature related to the structure and function of this protein (scientific journal articles should form the basis for this literature search)
- Prepare a poster written in your own words that summarises the structure, function and biological role(s) of the protein, with appropriate citation to your sources of literature.
Support for this assignment will be available on the Moodle site (Assessment 1 tutorial sessions and additional learning resources)
Week 6 Friday (25 Aug 2017) 5:00 pm AEST
Week 9 Friday (15 Sept 2017)
The poster will be evaluated on-line and individual marks/feedback will be provided through the Moodle website using the following assessment criteria;
- 50 marks available for the scientific content that demonstrates a clear understanding of how the amino acids composition is related to the protein's structure and function.
- You must include information on the following:
- Structure - primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary (if the protein has a quaternary structure)
- Function of the protein and how it achieves this (what specifics about the structure allow the protein to carry out its function?)
- Other relevant information - in particular possible disease/s associated with the protein and how modifications to the structure and function may be altered in the disease. This may be expanded upon to be made relevant in the context of your specific course and career pathway.
- 20 marks available for research - you should have used at least 5 primary references (ideally journal articles)
- 10 marks available for organisation - The content of the poster should be organised into defined sections. All posters should have a clear title with the author's name and affiliation (University and unit code) underneath. Headings should clearly identify the information contained within the section. The choice of headings is up to the author.
- 10 marks available for the appropriate use and presentation of references.
- 10 marks available for presentation style / visual effectiveness of the poster, spelling, grammar, sentence structure and punctuation.
The total maximum grade for the protein poster is 100 marks. A copy of the marking rubric will be provided on the Moodle site. You are encouraged to closely consult this rubric whilst preparing your poster.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure, function and biological roles of the major types of macromolecules and their building blocks.
- Utilise common search engines and scientific databases to find and recognise primary scientific information.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
2 Online Quiz(zes)
Students are required to complete two online quizzes. Each quiz will be comprised of 20 questions and has a time limit of 30 minutes to complete.
You will be allowed one attempt at the each quiz. Your score from the quizzes will contribute 40% to your final grade (2 quizzes X 20% each = 40%).
Quiz 1 will open on Friday 25th August 2017 (Friday of Week 6) and will be open until Friday 6th October (Friday of Week 12). This quiz will assess the topics covered during Weeks 1 to 6.
Quiz 2 will open on Friday 22nd September 2017 (Friday of Week 10) and will be open until Friday 6th October (Friday of Week 12). This quiz will assess the topics covered during Weeks 7 to 10.
2
Other
Please see the timeline outlined above for specific information about due dates.
Students will receive their score on completion of the quiz.
Each online quiz is worth a total of 20 marks. Each quiz will have 20 questions with one mark per correct answer to each question.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the structure, function and biological roles of the major types of macromolecules and their building blocks.
- Explain the various methods used to separate and characterise macromolecules.
- Describe the relationship between structure and function of the components of biological membranes, especially in terms of selective permeability.
- Outline the basic processes involved in metabolism of carbohydares, fats and proteins and their catabolism to synthesise ATP through cellular respiration.
- Problem Solving
- Information Literacy
Examination
Dictionary - non-electronic, concise, direct translation only (dictionary must not contain any notes or comments).
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
